


This Year's Apologies (Every Time I Wish You Came Home)

by Krasimer



Series: Falling Off An Edge (Looking As You Leap) [3]
Category: LazyTown
Genre: Dad Robbie Rotten, Dad Sportacus, Dysfunctional Family, Fae Magic, Fae Robbie Rotten, Family Issues, Glanni don't injure the elf boyfriend your grandson will hate you forever, Glanni finally shows up, Glanni is trying to make up for what he did, M/M, Overly-dramatic makeup wearing Grandpa, Robbie Does Not Want To Hear It, Robbie is not happy, Sportacus is worried, The children of Lazytown are their kids fight me, Their date was interrupted, Íþróttaálfurinn followed Glanni to Lazytown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-12
Updated: 2017-01-12
Packaged: 2018-09-17 02:03:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9299258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krasimer/pseuds/Krasimer
Summary: “My crystal hasn’t gone off,” Sportacus muttered, his thumb rubbing soothing circles over the skin on the back of Robbie’s hand. “If the children were in trouble, we would know.”“Unless the trouble they’re in has no chance of hurting them,” Robbie grumbled, still frowning as he searched the horizon. “If they aren’t about to bleed, would it still tell you? What if they thought they were happy and safe, even when they weren’t?” his entire body was tense. “What if they were unconscious for some reason besides a hit to the head, would it still register as a danger?”With a soft intake of breath, Sportacus followed Robbie’s gaze. “We should check on them.”





	

The air around them was oddly still, the scent of flowers hanging in the breeze.

Robbie frowned, looking up when he realized that the birds had stopped chirping. Even the somewhat distant sounds of traffic had quieted like they’d been pulled further from the town without realizing it. “…I don’t like this,” he said quietly.

Sportacus looked up, reaching for Robbie’s hand. “I don’t think I do, either,” he admitted, his voice just as quiet as Robbie’s.

They had been on a small date, a picnic that had been packed in Robbie’s lair and taken to the edge of the forest just beyond the billboard that hid the entrance. The children had been settled into an activity, overseen by the Mayor on a rare day when he had nothing scheduled. They didn’t need as much minding these days but Trixie and Stingy still fought on occasion, an extra eye was almost always appreciated to keep them from devolving into a full-on war.

“My crystal hasn’t gone off,” Sportacus muttered, his thumb rubbing soothing circles over the skin on the back of Robbie’s hand. “If the children were in trouble, we would know.”

“Unless the trouble they’re in has no chance of hurting them,” Robbie grumbled, still frowning as he searched the horizon. “If they aren’t about to bleed, would it still tell you? What if they thought they were happy and safe, even when they weren’t?” his entire body was tense. “What if they were unconscious for some reason besides a hit to the head, would it still register as a danger?”

With a soft intake of breath, Sportacus followed Robbie’s gaze. “We should check on them.”

“Yes,” Robbie stood quickly, with far less pain and cracking of his back than he would have before they had started dating. In trying to keep up with the elf, he had started getting a little bit more exercise, his stubborn joints moving with a little more ease. “We should.”

They took off at a quick pace, their picnic left behind on the forest floor.

Heading back into town was almost terrifying with how quiet it was. None of the kids were around to be seen and both secretly hoped that they were wrong. If the children were still playing where they had been left, then they wouldn’t be wandering towards where Robbie lived.

Robbie peered at their surroundings, clutching tightly to his boyfriend’s hand. “There’s still a chance,” he muttered. “We-“

His words fell into silence when he nearly trod upon a toadstool.

It was large, about the size of his head, and it seemed to form part of a ring. The surrounding ones were of varying sizes, some of them larger even than the one he had nearly stepped on. “Sportacus,” Robbie hissed his name out. “Hold onto me a little tighter, we need to move _now_.”

“Robbie-“

“No, _NOW_.”

The elf stepped in closer, his face lined with confusion. “Robbie, can you tell me-“

“No time,” Robbie leaned his head against his shoulder and both disappeared, leaving an empty field surrounded by mushrooms arranged in a ring.

 

Reappearing in the basketball court, Sportacus stumbling slightly as he tried to regain his footing, Robbie immediately looked around.

He let out a curse in Icelandic, his hands flexing uselessly by his sides. “Check around, we need to find the children,” he turned when Sportacus took one of his hands again, putting a hand to his cheek. “No, we don’t have _time, we need to go find them,_ ” he shook his head. 

Sportacus only gripped his chin a little tighter. “You need to breathe,” he reminded the taller man. “Or we’ll have missing children and an unconscious fae. One problem at a time.”

Robbie let himself be held still, sucking in a few deep breaths before letting them out slowly. “Alright.”

“Good. Now, where might they be if they aren’t in trouble and they aren’t here?” Sportacus prompted him, rubbing soothing circles on his temple. “Where would they go if they know they need to stay close and be safe?”

“The café,” Robbie muttered. “With the apple cider that you can drink.”

“Very good,” Sportacus nodded. “We’ll start there.”

“Don’t have to,” Robbie gestured behind the elf. “The mayor is passed out and sitting on the wall behind you. Something has happened here and it isn’t _good_.”

For a moment, it felt like the world had tilted on some sort of axis, everything thrown into chaos. Then there was a presence on one side of them. “And when have I ever been good,” came a voice that sounded so much like Robbie that Sportacus had to double check that his boyfriend hadn’t spoken. Robbie’s face was pale, drained of blood in favor of the shock and fear currently overtaking it. “Oh, you should not be here, _elf_.”

The crystal started beeping rapidly, just before Sportacus was knocked to one side, tumbling over and over across the asphalt of the court.

Robbie stared at him, reaching to follow and help him up when a hand caught his wrist.

“There you are,” said a voice he barely remembered. “I’ve been looking for you.”

“Afi,” Robbie nearly snarled the syllable out. “ _Glanni_.”

Glanni sighed, letting go of his grandson’s arm and raising an eyebrow at him. “ _Very clever_ , my boy. Using my name to avoid being found? _Wonderfully_ clever, like the rest of your family. Every time they spoke of you, it would come across as being about me, a nice bit of _misdirection_. I’m proud of you. You’ve done very well,” he frowned. “Even though it was to hide from me.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Robbie could see Sportacus struggling to get up, his arms pushing against the ground. “Let _go of him!_ ” he snarled the words out.

“…Oh?” Glanni glanced at the elf, an eyebrow raised. “And why is an _elf_ important to you?”

“Because he is,” Robbie sneered at him, taking a step back. “And so are the children. If you could let them _all_ go and leave, that would be _appreciated!_ ” his hands were curled into fists at his sides, ready to take a swing at Glanni if he had to. “They have _names_ and _interests_ and you do not get to _hurt them!_ ”

“Hurt them?” his eyebrow arched even further. “Why would I hurt them?”

“Because you’re _you_ ,” Robbie spat the words at him, his entire body tensing further. “And I trust you about as far as I could _throw you unaided_. The last time I saw you, you were busy _cursing my name_ and _disowning me,_ ” his knuckles were white, his entire body trembling. “I don’t buy it for a _second_ that you’ve ‘Settled with Age’ like I have been told. I know you too well, I know you’ve never so much as blinked when it comes to hurting someone to get what you want.”

He let out a sigh, his eyes closing for a moment. “It is entirely too bad that I never knew what you wanted to get out of hurting me.”

“…I regretted it the very next day,” Glanni muttered. “I had chased my grandson out the door, the last remaining piece of my daughter, and I very quickly lost track of him. Partially because I had never paid that much attention to your magical signature before, mostly because you are very clever about hiding when you want to be. The only reason I found you here,” he gestured at the town around them. “Is because the children I found had traces of your magic in the things they were playing with.”

“If you’ve _hurt them_ I will spend the rest of my life _destroying you_.”

“They are only sleeping,” Glanni glanced at the wall the mayor sat on. “The mayor of this little town is a marker for where I’ve put them. Twenty feet to the right and you would have spotted them.”

“Good,” Robbie let his fists relax a little. “Now let go of him.”

Glanni made a face, confused for a moment, then sighed. “Oh, the elf,” he snapped his fingers and Sportacus’s body went loose, dropping back to the ground from where he had been struggling to his feet. “There.”

Already moving, Robbie rushed to Sportacus’s side, pulling him to sitting up. “ _Thank you,_ ” he muttered tersely, the elf’s hands in his own as he helped to steady him. “ _Never_ do that to him again.”

“Is he your elf?”

“Yes,” Robbie said simply. “And I am _his_. If you hurt one of us, you’ll have to deal with the other. If you hurt the children or any of the people in this town, you’ll have to answer to both of us. Kærastinn minn,” he turned to look back at Glanni. “And you can’t _change that_. It took us ages to get to this point and you can’t take him away. You can’t take me away either, this is my town. I live here, the people here are ones I have actually grown attached to.”

A grin stretched over Glanni’s face. “I am happy that you’ve found a place to be,” he sighed. “The Court will understand you not coming home with me, if I spin it right. They might not be pleased with it, but Unseelie are often not pleased with anything. Now,” he stepped closer. “Would you mind introducing me to your kærastinn? I’ve not had the pleasure of learning his _name_.”

“…You don’t get to know his true name,” Robbie grumbled. “But this is Sportacus.”

“…Sportacus.”

“Yes, yes, I know,” Robbie smiled, nudging his forehead against Sportacus’s. “Strange, ridiculous name for a strange and ridiculous elf.”

“No,” Glanni shook his head. “Less that and more-“ he stood, breaking his own sentence into silence, and immediately began scanning the horizon. “We’ve met before,” he groaned, covering his face with his hand, the other resting on his hip. “You were so _small_ that you probably don’t remember me. Your father is…Of course he is.”

The top swell of an air balloon was visible over the trees and Glanni sighed. “Of course,” he said again. “Should have known he’d track me.”

Sportacus laughed, his forehead dropping to rest against Robbie’s shoulder. “The children should be awake when he gets here,” he murmured. “Otherwise, he may just go for an attack on you, rather than trying to ask what has happened.”

With another snap of his fingers, Glanni glared at the balloon. “I don’t feel the need to be punched today,” he rolled his eyes, turning to listen to the sounds of children waking up to find themselves somewhere they didn’t remember going.

It reminded Sportacus of Robbie, a fondness sitting deep in his chest, and he laughed.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah hahahaha, this is...Kind of really fun to write. I think there's only a part or two left in this series. Mostly, this was to get me used to writing about these guys.
> 
> For Future Fic: I may not have Glanni be Robbie's grandfather in the future. They may, in the future, be brothers or cousins or father and son or even the same person, just switching names based on where he is at the time. Same with Sportacus and Íþróttaálfurinn. Since the fandom is so fluid about these things, I like the idea of being able to switch it around. (Undertale has Gaster and I can't see him as anything other than a skeleton dad.)
> 
> But yeah, like I said. Only a part or two more of this story, one more big plot twist coming that I think people might like. Glanni has a reason for hunting down his grandson, after all.
> 
> Afi - Grandfather  
> Kærastinn minn - Boyfriend/My Boyfriend


End file.
